Upcoming Webinars

Speaker

Denise Robertson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CNL
Associate Chief Nurse
Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Dr. Denise Robertson is an experienced nursing professional with three decades in the field. She holds nursing degrees from the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is dual-board certified as a Nurse Executive-Advanced and Clinical Nurse Leader.

As the Associate Chief Nurse at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, she oversees nursing services for Primary and Specialty Care and serves as a certified VA mentor and coach. She is the immediate past President of the Alabama State Nurses Association’s (ASNA) District 2 and currently serves as the Mentor Community Manager for the American Nurses Association, providing guidance on effective mentoring relationships.

Dr. Robertson is a gifte d writer and has authored several pieces for the GNSA Bulletin and has significantly contributed to engaging over 10,000 student members nationwide. Her article, "Mentorship Matters," published in the American Nurse Journal, aims to inspire nurses about the importance of mentoring.

Dr. Robertson's dedication to mentorship earned her the 2021 ASNA Mentorship Award, recognizing her exceptional support for nurses’ development. Her contributions have a profound impact on the nursing profession and the communities she serves.
 

Speakers

Shawna Sisler, PhD, MS, MA, MAPP, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHS 
Assistant Professor (Clinical) 
University of Utah 

Dr. Shawna Sisler brings extensive expertise in population health, pediatrics, and mental health to her role in nursing education. Her academic background includes a PhD in Nursing Science from the University of Utah, an MS in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and additional Master's degrees in Applied Positive Psychology and Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania and Santa Clara University, respectively. As a passionate community advocate and changemaker, Dr. Sisler spearheads innovative approaches to Utah’s behavioral health integration and social determinants of mental health in rural and frontier communities. She is the Principal Investigator for the HRSA-f unded Utah Rural Opioid Healthcare Consortium - Collaborative Care Model (UROHC-CCM) grant, which aims to reduce opioid usage and dependence in Carbon, Emery, and Wayne Counties - areas in east-central Utah with some of the highest rates of opioid-related deaths in the state. In this role, she directs research and clinical strategies, collaborates with rural community clinics, and manages the project's financial and administrative aspects. Additionally, Dr. Sisler co-leads redesign efforts in the population health vertical at the College of Nursing, contributing to the shift toward competency-based education. Dr. Sisler's commitment to innovative healthcare solutions and community advocacy extends beyond her academic work, as she serves as a long-time volunteer and Loaned Nurse Executive for the American Red Cross, working directly under the Chief Nurse on their Nursing and Health leadership team at the National Headquarters. 

Richard MacIntyre, PhD, RN, FAAN 
Professor  
Samuel Merritt University 

Dr. Richard MacIntyre is Professor and Director of the RN to BSN Program at Samuel Merritt University. He is also a board member at TriState College of Acupuncture in NYC, a member of the Advisory Council on Policy, STTI, and a member of the Nursing Council at Western Governors. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse fellow where he focused on innovative curricula, including standardized curricula for informatics. 

Speakers

Kate Gawlik, DNP, APRN-CNP, FAAN, FNAP, FAANP
Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
The Ohio State University

Dr. Kate Gawlik is an Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, Director of Undergraduate Health and Wellness Academic Programming, and the Director of the Bachelor of Science in health and wellness program at The Ohio State University. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner and her areas of expertise are in wellness, cardiovascular prevention, parental burnout, and nursing education. She pioneered an online educational program, the Million Hearts Fellowship, for healthcare professionals that has resulted in the cardiovascular screening and education of over 110,000 people nationwide and has been embedded into nursing curricula across the U.S. This work has received four national awards, including m ost recently, the AACN’s Innovation in Professional Nursing Education Award. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Academy of Nursing. 

Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, FAAN, FAANP, FNAP
Professor and Dean Emeritus
The Ohio State University

Dr. Bernadette Melnyk is an inspirational speaker, author, leader, innovator, entrepreneur and recognized expert in evidence-based practice, mental health, population health and well-being, intervention research and organizational culture change. She also is CEO and founder of COPE2Thrive, LLC. For the past 13 years, she served as Vice President for Health Promotion and Chief Wellness Officer at The Ohio State University,  where she also was the Helene Fuld Health Trust Professor of Evidence-based Practice . She founde d the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare.  Dr. Melnyk is editor of eight books and has over 600 publications and received more than $36 million dollars of sponsored funding from N IH, AHRQ, and foundations as a principal investigator. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing that has recognized her three times as an Edge Runner, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Melnyk has served on several national advisory boards, including the United States Preventive Services Task Force, and led nursing colleges at Ohio State University and Arizona State University. She is currently the elected chair of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and received honorary doctoral degrees from the State University of New York and Frontier Nursing University. Dr. Melnyk's COPE programs for depression and anxiety are used across 50 states and in several countries. She is editor-in-chief of Sigma’s top ranked journal Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing and serves on the advisory board for the ANA’s Healthy Nu rse Healthy Nation initiative. 

Speakers

Felesia Bowen, PhD, DNP, PPCNP-BC, FAAN
Professor and Associate Dean
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing 

Dr. Felesia Bowen is Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing. She is a decorated U.S. Army Nurse Corps veteran who earned her BSN at Tuskegee University, Master’s degree from Rutgers University, PhD from Columbia University, and DNP from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ. Dr. Bowen has devoted her career to improving health disparities and equity for children, their families, and the communities they live in. Dr. Bowen is known and respected for her unconventional, and upstream approaches to addressing nursing workforce diversity. Dr. Bowen is a firm believer that student nurse diversity is necessary to decrease health di sparities in minority and marginalized individuals.  Dr. Bowen is a nationally certified primary care pediatric nurse practitioner and President-elect of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.  

Speakers

Pamela Cone
Professor Emerita, US Fulbright Scholar
Graduate & Doctoral Nursing Programs, School of Nursing, Azusa Pacific University

Pamela Cone, born and raised in Haiti, has been a nurse for 50 years, a nurse educator for 34 years, and a nurse researcher for 31 years. She holds a BSN from Alderson-Broaddus College, an MSN from Azusa Pacific University, and a PhD in nursing from the University of California San Francisco. In 2008-2009, she was awarded a US Fulbright grant to Norway. Since then, she has collaborated with Norwegian nurse researcher Tove Giske to develop several grounded theories, presented their research in over 30 countries, written over a dozen journal articles, and published two books on their spiritual care work.